ESPN Will Air AFL Grand Final Replay

It’s been confirmed elsewhere, but for those of you leaving anguished comments on this blog, here’s your proof — a screenshot of the ESPN TV listings, taken this morning. Yes, Aussie rules fans in America, ESPN will have coverage of this historic AFL Grand Final Replay. The coverage will be pretty much the same as [...]

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Video: Manchester City 1-0 Chelsea

For archival purposes. Deep into the archives for this one.

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David Beckham Won?t Be Returning To Milan, But England Is Another Matter

LA Galaxy’s professional showpony and part-time midfielder David Beckham? has admitted that he doesn’t envisage returning to Europe on a temporary basis this season, as he has done in recent the past. In a bid to temper his frustrations at catching a surprise second wind on the international scene after prematurely moving from the Real...

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Rant Box: Manchester City v. Chelsea

Beef.

Teams
Manchester City
Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Toure, Boyata, Milner, De Jong, Barry, Toure Yaya, Silva, Tevez. Subs: Given, Adebayor, Adam Johnson, Boateng, Lescott, Vieira, Jo.
Chelsea
Cech, Ivanovic, Alex, EBALJT, A. Cole, Mikel, Essien, Ramires, Anelka, Malouda, Drogba. Subs: Turnbull, Zhirkov, Ferreira, Sturridge, Van Aanholt, Kakuta, McEachran.
Up the Chels

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Shearer gets it wrong again

No, I’m not talking about him refer, more than once, to David Silva as David Villa until Gary Lineker corrected [...]

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Nani is the Worst Actor Ever

Let’s just put it right out there. Any manager who gives Nani a starting job has no room to accuse any other player of making “an absolute meal of it.” Just watch that video and get a load of this Portuguese winger’s antics. He’s clearly faking. Everyone knows he’s clearly faking. Even Howard Webb isn’t [...]

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Klinsmann in California

Greetings. This week's blog is about a hurriedly arranged trip to Los Angeles to interview Jurgen Klinsmann.

I can see some of you already penning your "waste of licence fee payers' money" and "expensive jolly" comments, so let me offer this early defence.

The interview with Klinsmann will not only be available on Football Focus but also as part of a documentary about the England national side and how they can put right the wrongs of this summer's World Cup in South Africa. I also stayed in a dodgy hotel miles from anywhere and was seated at the back of the plane on the flight in and out.

In fact, the journey out there will live with me for quite some time. Flying to LA is a bit of a 10-hour beast and the last thing you want to hear when you sit down on a packed flight is this from the bloke you are wedged next to...

"I've got a significant bladder problem!" Such was the regularity of his rising that I had to abandon watching The A-Team an hour in. A forced intermission every seven to eight minutes does not make for perfect viewing conditions.

Jurgen Klinsmann welcomes me to his home

I was only in LA for two days so I developed a cunning plan to avoid the eight-hour time difference on my return. I went to bed at 7.45pm and then got up at 3.45am. The only flaw was the early rise gave me a four-hour wait before the hotel opened the buffet breakfast. The pancakes and syrup were eventually devoured in record time.

Jeff, our American cameraman, picked me up and we headed to the very posh and swanky Newport Beach. It did not take me long to realise Jeff was the most showbiz operator I have worked with.

He had spent the previous week filming interviews with Cheryl Cole for The X Factor and unleashed this classic quote: "I'm telling you, Dan, I've met some pretty ladies in my time but she's a winner man. What a face... and that accent... she's Scottish, right?"

At that point in the conversation, Jeff's mobile went off. It was Michael Sheen, the star of Frost/Nixon, trying to set up a meeting for the following day. It soon became clear that Jeff pointed his camera in some significant circles and, even though he thought Klinsmann was a Formula 1 driver, I felt the shoot was in safe hands.

Klinsmann's gaff was even more impressive than Jeff's contact list. There was one central corridor that ran through the whole pad, which even Usain Bolt would have struggled to cover in under seven seconds at full tilt.

They were renting this place while their family house was being renovated. I dread to think what it was worth but, with NBA star Kobe Bryant living round the corner, I imagine the heaviest of wallets is needed to call this part of town 'home'.

We settled into the first part of the interview for the documentary, which featured Klinsmann's cool analysis of the reasons for England's World Cup wonkiness. He also spoke of the merits of a winter break and detailed the measures he took to rebuild the German national side after they failed to make the knockout stages of Euro 2004.

Jurgen and I recreate his famous goal celebration routine

He was engaging, intelligent and incredibly insightful. When he brought out some water halfway through, I almost felt guilty for disliking him so vehemently during the 1990 World Cup. I may have felt slightly worse if he had added some biscuits!

We paused briefly while he let in some carpet cleaners and then settled into the Football Focus stage of the interview.

You will have to wait until Saturday for the full hit but, among other things, Klinsmann talked about his time at Tottenham being the highlight of his career, defended the morals of the modern-day footballer, confirmed he was never approached about the Aston Villa job, batted away questions about Chelsea and Liverpool but did claim he thought the job of coaching the United States was his when Bob Bradley was suddenly reappointed.

I wish I could tell you some of the stuff he said about certain clubs off camera. The journalist in me was disappointed but, as a fellow human, I hugely respect him for not spouting off with a microphone on.

After two captivating hours, he ran off to a meeting and told Jeff and I to let ourselves out. We had a final glimpse of the sort of house we would never live in and returned to the hotel.

You can see Klinsmann in California on Saturday's show at 1215 BST on BBC 1. Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez and Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce will also be on, while we'll have a special report on the coolest team in world football.

If you have got any questions or comments about the Klinsmann interview, let me know and the best place to keep up to date with Focus is at twitter.com/danwalkerbbc

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Football Blogger Plays Rugby, Hilarity Ensues

Spencer Hall, the lunatic genius behind the mighty infamous college football blog Every Day Should Be Saturday, has this ongoing series called The Amateur, where he puts his less-than-athletic self through the rigors of different athletic contests. He’s given Parkour and MMA a go. He tried curling during the Winter Olympics. He grew a porn [...]

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Michael Owen; caught between a bench and a League title

Michael Owen has hit the goal trail in Manchester United's last two games but still faces a battle for a regular starting spot at Old Trafford. Life on the bench is the price he must pay to fulfil an ambition.

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How to Watch the AFL Grand Final in America

Collingwood, Geelong, St. Kilda. By season’s end, everyone figured it would be two of those clubs playing in the Grand Final, and once Collingwood and St. Kilda both dispatched of the defending champions in the Finals, it was settled: Magpies v. Saints for the Premiership. They’re even against each other this season. The Saints won [...]

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Spot Kicks: Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?

Ines Sainz shows up in an NFL locker room wearing tight jeans, gets a few cat calls, and the media goes into a massive feeding frenzy. Meanwhile, a giant badger shows up on an NFL sideline and devours and entire cheerleader whole, and the press is completely silent. Horrible. I bet if this monster ate [...]

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Be Champions! Join the Dave?s Football Blog Fantasy Champions League

Chances are, if you’re reading this post right now, you will never actually get to lift the UEFA Champions League trophy. That doesn’t mean, however, that you couldn’t build a team that’s a winner. Here’s your chance. Hot on the heels of our Fantasy Premier League contest, Dave’s Football Blog is pleased to announce its [...]

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Yin, Yang & Football

When ex-Manchester United striker Dong Fangzhuo left Legia Warsaw on August 1, a brief yet beautiful piece of football symmetry disappeared with him. The first Chinese player in Poland may have featured in only six games in just over five months ? and failed to find the net in any of them ? but in...

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Michael Owen; caught between a bench and a League title

Michael Owen has hit the goal trail in Manchester United's last two games but still faces a battle for a regular starting spot at Old Trafford. Life on the bench is the price he must pay to fulfil an ambition.

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Must-Read: The Glorious, Ludicrous Feud

The Run of Play‘s Brian Phillips in Slate, on the never-ending argument over Pel� and Diego Maradona: Scrape away the grime of scandals and sound bites, and the contrast between these two great players says something about the imaginative possibilities presented by this game or by any game. Think of how you approach sports at [...]

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Goals Galore ? Football Roundup Sun 19 Sep 2010

Well what a cracking two live games there were today. Manchester United nearly threw away another two goal lead but deservedly scraped a 3-2 win in the end. Have to say Dimitar Berbatov was absolutely outstanding, made Torres and Rooney look like League Two strikers! His second goal was truly amazing definitely worth a look on MOTD2 tonight.

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Arsenal?s finances? or Ars�ne?s Finances?

Since Arsenal?s record pre-tax profits were announced last Friday much has been written regarding their transfer policy and budget. Opinion’s have been split on the outcome. While most are impressed with Arsenal?s sensible spending and level headed approach to all things financial, especially in these times of ludicrous spending, the Gunner?s are a one of a kind whose choice it is to live within their own means. I mean could Middlesbrough or Bolton ever really push themselves beyond their limits without almost immediate consequences? They are a ?big four? club ...

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How Not to Promote a Champions League

The 2010-11 CONCACAF Champions League begins play tonight with the preliminary round. In that round, the Los Angeles Galaxy, currently the pacesetters in Major League Soccer so far, take on the Puerto Rico Islanders in the first of a two-legged tie at the Home Depot Center in Carson. The next day, Galaxy boss Bruce Arena [...]

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MOTM Poll: Chelsea 2-0 Marseille

We can all laugh about it now that it’s over. And we’ve got the three points.


A sometimes exhilarating, mostly flaccid 2-0 win for the Chels over I’OM at the Bridge on Wednesday. So, that’s two Champions League group games – two wins.
It wasn’t exactly HD viewing. More like 480i. The second half, in particular, [...]

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U.S. Soccer Retains Bob Bradley Through 2014

And I blame these two: Because let’s be honest. If David Villa and Fernando Torres were on their game in the 2009 Confederations Cup semifinals, how impressive would Bob Bradley’s 4-year run be, really? Yes, there are positives to Bradley’s tenure thus far. He’s encouraged a number of U.S. national team players to build their [...]

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Stupid Soccer Fans Permeate Facebook

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Sky Sports: Do Me a Favour

The return of Sky?s Monday Night Football coverage for the 2010 season was met with collective joy from millions of armchair sports fans across Britain.

To mark its return following a three year hiatus (when Setanta and ESPN secured the rights), Sky unsurprisingly pulled out all the stops and put together a promotional package which provided a nostalgic look back at some of ?MNF?s? finest moments throughout the 1990s.
Yeboah?s blockbuster against Liverpool, Collymore?s last gasp winner against Newcastle and Keegan?s infamous rant were all used to highlight the intensity and excitement ...

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Hodgson?s choice

The chance to manage a club like Liverpool doesn’t come very often and for 62 year old Roy Hodgson it [...]

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Arsenal Supporters Ask The Important Questions

This Brazilian reporter at Emirates Stadium may wear the ESPN logo on his jacket, but he’s out there on his own. I can sympathize. I’m pretty much out here on my own, too. The only difference is I don’t have a few thousand drunken Gunners standing by reminding me of that. On the other hand, [...]

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Partick Thistle reserves or Manchester United?

I had the chance of a ticket for the Manchester United v Rangers game, so let's just say that I wasn't overly excited to be told I was heading for Maryhill and a reserve game against Partick Thistle on Tuesday night.

It was a horrible night and I'll not pretend it was the best ground I've ever played at but it was actually a decent game and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

It has been about six weeks since I last started a match for Annan and during that time I've only managed one substitute appearance so I'll pretty much take anything I can get right now.

I've certainly missed not playing and although I've been on the bench I've started feeling less and less a part of things again. The old feelings have started coming back from the season before last when I was out the team for the majority of the season.

That's why it was good to get the reserve game in last night. It's so important for the guys that aren't involved in the starting 11 to get some game time and the ones that were involved against Thistle did themselves no harm.

I was happy to get a full 90 minutes in and happy enough with the way I played in the 2-2 draw, so hopefully I've put myself in the manager's thoughts ahead of Saturday's visit to Clyde.

Aaron Muirhead is likely to pay more attention to Harry Cairney's training ground talks in future. Photo:SNS

Changes are to the forefront of Harry's mind for the game this weekend after what was a very poor performance in the defeat to Elgin on Saturday.

Unfortunately I was able to watch the whole match from the sidelines and it was as lacklustre as I can remember for a long time. We got what we deserved from the game, which was nothing, and it wasn't until Elgin were reduced to ten men that we had any pressure.

They were fairly comfortable throughout and even when we did press them late in the second half it was more with hopeful long balls than with creativity.

This is something we will have to improve on immensely if we're to take anything from our trip to Broadwood this weekend. Although Clyde haven't made the start I'm sure they would have liked, this will be a very difficult game and they will be difficult to break down.

We'll have to show a lot more in an attacking sense to come away with a positive result and I can see one or two changes being made to try and ensure that happens.

Our trip on Saturday will bring back some good memories of our first ever match as a senior club. It doesn't seem over two years ago that we headed up the road to play that first match as a Third Division club only a few weeks after beginning our preparations for another season in the East of Scotland Premier Division.

Instead of facing Easthouses Lily we were to be pitting our wits against a First Division side.

I remember Harry telling me on the Thursday night before that he wanted me to captain the side again. A few months earlier I'd been given two red cards in a cup game and Harry had decided to transfer-list me.

I didn't think I'd ever play for the club again, let alone get the armband back and lead the side out in the SFL.

The two matches that followed against Clyde and the first league game at home to Stenhousemuir were up there with my proudest and most memorable moments as a footballer.

I'll finish off with another wee funny story from training last Thursday night. We had done our usual forfeits, which continue to get better, by the way, when Harry told us that we had missed a test the previous week that measures our power.

I think all the boys knew this was a wee joke but Aaron Muirhead was talking while Harry got all the boys together so he had him up first.

So, there is a massive elasticised rope fixed to the metal fence that surrounds the training pitch with a belt attached that Harry wraps around Aero to get him ready to go.

The point of the exercise is to see how far Aero can run before the rope slowly pulls him back and the distance is measured. Now, remembering that Aero isn't exactly lacking in confidence he hares across the pitch after Harry tells him that David Cox can make it over to the other side.

He gets to about 20 metres away from the fence and then, bang, the rope splits and whacks him right across the back. I kid you not, he was in absolute agony, jumping all over the place asking if it was done deliberately.

I saw him last night and he still has bruising on his back and backside.

The boys are now calling him whiplash!

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Can Chelsea And England Manage Without Frank Lampard?

Can Chelsea and England manage without Frank Lampard? Well, the prosaic answer is that they’re going to have to until mid-October, after a minor setback (inflamed scar tissue if you must know) in his recovery from groin surgery means that the midfielder will be sidelined until after the international break – with a return tentatively...

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Left Foot Forward ? Diary of a Journeyman Footballer

With the amount of free agents currently about the game it is a strong reminder to us obsessed by the Premier League and all the Sky Sports Wham Bam that there is more to football than heaps of cash, there is in fact a very human side and Left Foot Forward by Garry Nelson helps to evoke those emotions that can be lost by the cold face of football.

Left foot forward by Garry (yes two r’s) Nelson is the diary of a season as a journeyman footballer. The diary stars ...

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Win over Clyde lifts mood at Annan

After Aaron Muirhead's little mishap during the speed exercise last week it was the turn of our captain, Kevin Neilson, to have what can only be described as a total disaster during Monday night's training session.

Not only was he in the firing line, baring his backside three times after our usual game of possession, but he also took one from the speed rope.

The manager changed things around to avoid a repeat of Aero's accident and put his trust in the hands of the players to help each other out.

Kevin and Jordan Halsman were working in pairs and things seemed to be fine when Kevin was powering away while Jordan held the rope. When it came to Jordan's turn, the belt somehow came away from his waist and flew back and smacked Kevin.

Bryan Gilfillan scored the first goal for Annan against Clyde. Photo: SNS.

Where Aero might have been a wee bit lucky that he was facing in the opposite direction, Kevin wasn't so fortunate and he took one directly in the crown jewels. I don't know if I was lucky or unlucky to be one of the few boys to actually see it happen, but I felt the big man's pain!

You would have thought the skipper would have been a stick-on for the biscuits due to his performance, but although he was in the top three the honour actually went to Halsman. The reasoning behind it was that the manager had pulled him out of the running because he had already done a double session with Motherwell during the day, lazy little so and so!

The mood at training this week has been much better than the previous, and that's pretty much all down to our terrific result at Broadwood on Saturday against Clyde.

I tipped Clyde as title favourites in an earlier column before a ball had been kicked so I was a little bit surprised at how comfortable a victory it was.

In a role reversal from last week, Clyde never really troubled us until we were two goals to the good and they sent a lot of deliveries in to the box. I'll admit that we got lucky a few times when the ball dropped in our favour but there was very little created.

Sitting watching the game from the bench again, I was very impressed with our first-half performance. We got lucky with Bryan Gilfillan's early goal - or so I believe, because I missed it - but I felt we controlled the rest of the half with very good possession.

I'm not too sure if the manager told the boys to sit deeper in the second half because I was warming up during half-time but Clyde certainly enjoyed more possession in our half, yet still only had one decent chance for their efforts.

We broke away with less than 20 minutes remaining when Bryan Felvus (or Friar Tuck as someone called him on a fans' forum) scored his first competitive goal for the club. We were confident at that point it was game over and we were actually unlucky not to stretch the lead even further when Halsman smacked the post near the end.

In terms of performance, it was like night and day from our home match against Elgin the previous week. We were lacking in every department during that one, the determination and hunger shown at Clyde wasn't there either.

The players have been talking to each other and we know it's so important that we score first in every game, but even more so when we're at Galabank. We've got great confidence in ourselves not to concede too many goals but it's so difficult to break teams down with our home ground being so tight.

I'm sure I said it last season, but it's so important that we start games on the front foot and get our noses in front early because when we don't we tend to struggle at home.

Let's hope we get ourselves a positive start to build on against Queen's Park this weekend. Although it's very early in the season, this would set us up nicely for a really big game against Berwick Rangers the following week.

I'll be very interested to see which way the manager chooses to go against Queen's Park on Saturday. In each game against them last year, we changed our formation quite drastically to combat their style. With such a positive result and performance at Broadwood, I wonder what will be behind Harry's thinking for this one.

Whatever it is, I'm sure all will be revealed at training on Thursday night.

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The real Samir Nasri finally stands up

Saturday was a bad day for Arsenal, there can be no disputing that. Few would have predicted that West Brom would have found themselves with a three goal lead, even after missing a penalty. Even though Arsene Wenger?s team are susceptible to off-days, a tie with Premiership new boys at The Emirates should yield ...

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Demagogue of the Day

The rumblings started during the World Cup, continued when Alan Hansen chose entirely the wrong moment to criticise Theo Walcott, [...]

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Upton Park provides a place to finally call home

After being associated with summer moves for Loic Remy and Neymar there was a collective groan amongst West Ham fans when the club announced the signing of Frederic Piquionne. The reaction was understandably subdued given the 31-year old has a record of scoring, on average, under six league goals a season. The consensus was that the former Lyon striker ...

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England - World Class Chokers

The overpaid Premiership stars in the England football team have now been exposed. Before the World Cup 2010, we kept hearing about how our team of World class players were capable of beating anyone and winning the tournament. How wrong the media were. The players are a mixture of World class chokers and average Premiership players.

Rooney, Terry and the rest of them look World class when they are playing alongside their domestic clubs?s foreign contingents. Take the foreign stars out of those teams and the English players would be shown up for what they are, i.e., not as good as we are led to believe. It is not Gerrard, Lampard and co that makes the Premiership the best league in the World.

Fabio Capello is not a bad football manager. However, he has got most things wrong where the World Cup is concerned. Firstly, he made errors in selecting the final squad. Leaving out Theo Walcott was a terrible decision. Defenders do not like pace and Walcott has it in abundance. He would have been the perfect alternative to ineffective displays by Rooney, Lennon and Wright-Phillips.

There were far too many average players in the squad masquerading as international footballers. Jamie Carragher was never deemed good enough by previous managers with very good reason. As for Glen Johnson, here we have a right-back whose weakness is defending! If he is the best right-back in the country then we have got serious problems. Then we come to Gareth Barry who has rose to prominence due to Owen Hargreaves injury.

The excuses have started already. Apparently the players were tired. One minute they are complaining of boredom, then after being humiliated by Germany, it is because they were tired. Whatever the reasons behind the poor performances, Capello is paid a huge salary and has failed spectacularly. The fact he still needs an interpreter to speak English is worrying to say the least.

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Ceci n?est pas un publicity stunt

Paul Gascoigne, after a 39-day spell at Kettering that ended with acrimony and accusations of drinking on the job, is [...]

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FIVE things we learnt about Birmingham this weekend

1. 4-5-1 diminishes any attacking potency

When Birmingham fans looked down the fixture list, Wigan at home would have stood out as one that they could easily have picked up three points from given their record at home. Wigan have started the season by leaking goals nigh on every week, ...

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The Two Sides of Manchester City

Our pal Brian Phillips of The Run of Play described Manchester City today as “the footballing version of the devastating forest fire that leads to new growth.” That’s perhaps just a bit nicer than what Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho, among others, have been saying about Man City lately. It seems everyone is looking [...]

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The Rich Man's Toy

At the start of the season, not many people would have tipped Newcastle United for relegation. The fact they now find themselves in the Championship is due to a catalogue of errors. Numerous mistakes have been made during the course of the season by the owner Mike Ashley.

The reason for the sacking of Sam Allardyce was reported to be the type of football the team was producing. This is a valid point but Allardyce would not have delivered relegation had he remained in charge. The hierarchy decided to bring back Toon legend Kevin Keegan. This raised an eyebrow or two in some quarters but it was considered a safe appointment. Keegan would have the backing of the fans and would get the team playing attractive and attacking football.

For some strange reason Ashley then decided to bring in a director of football. Club chairmen do not seem to learn that in English football the director of football role rarely succeeds. This scenario just creates conflict between the manager and the director. The manager should be solely responsible for deciding which players should be bought or sold.

The appointment was cheeky cockney Dennis Wise a man with no connection to the North East which made matters worse. Furthermore it is believed that Keegan and Wise did not really get along beforehand. The rest is history as Keegan walked away after issuing an ultimatum that was not met.

The next manger to be given the job was former Wimbledon boss Joe Kinnear who had been out of the game for some time. Ill health put paid to his stint and that is where the crucial error was made. An experienced manger should have been appointed immediately but instead Ashley left Chris Hughton in charge.

The last throw of the dice was appointing Alan Shearer with only a handful of games remaining. Shearer is worshipped by the supporters but had an impossible task to keep them up. Money has been thrown around like confetti in recent years on a host of poor signings. Average players have been given very generous contracts and have simply not earned those wages.

If the club is to make an instant return to the Premiership then a massive clear out is required. Under performing players who are on contracts of �50,000 a week or more, need to be moved out of the club. You need a fair amount of fighting spirit to get out of the Championship and that is one quality the current squad does not have in abundance.

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Why the Argentine rollercoaster fails to thrill

Chelsea's start to the season shows it is not easy for a competition to retain both quality and competitive balance.

The Premier League has a collective TV deal, with a more equitable distribution of television money than some other major leagues. Even so, those clubs with a wealthy benefactor or a huge fan base can put themselves streets ahead of weaker rivals, while only a handful of clubs go into the season with any realistic chance of winning. A dose of predictability is the price paid for the quality on show.

It is the opposite of domestic football in Argentina, where the first division has become wildly unpredictable. However, the price paid for this excitement is a lack of quality.

The last eight championships have been won by eight different clubs, including first-time champions Banfield and Lanus. Argentinos Juniors won the last title, only the third in their history, but are down at the bottom of the table after seven games of the new campaign.

Funes Mori was scouted by River while training with Chelsea. Photo: AP

It is a typical story. A relatively small club clicks for one campaign but then drops back down again after losing their coach and their best players. And the space for these small clubs to break through comes from the fact that the big clubs are continually parting company with their best players.

A survey published last week found that Argentina has now overtaken Brazil as the leading exporter of footballers - a remarkable statistic given that Brazil's population is nearly five times bigger. And when everyone is selling, all the teams are in a permanent state of flux and the playing field is levelled - downwards, because the standard of play inevitably suffers from the loss of both players and continuity.

The level of unpredictability is increased by the fact that Argentina stages two separate championships a year, in which the 20 teams play each other once. The shorter the season, the greater the chance of a surprise.

Largely to protect the big clubs from a bad campaign, relegation is worked out on an average of points accumulated over three years, or six championships.

This helps explain the bizarre position in which River Plate find themselves.

The Buenos Aires giants have more domestic titles than anyone else and are in contention this time. On Sunday, they lost 1-0 away to Newells Old Boys. A win would have left them on top of the table. As it is, they lie sixth, only two points behind the leaders.

Yet River Plate are also in danger of relegation. Bad results for two years mean they entered this campaign with a noose around their neck. Next May, two clubs will go down automatically and two more will go into the play-offs. Using this average of points picked up since the 2008/09 season, River are in 18th position, third from bottom.

They still have plenty of time to pull clear - another 12 games of this campaign and all 19 of the next - but the players are currently feeling twin forces of pressure: both of winning the title and of fighting the drop.

It is a situation that cries out for experience. River have it in the form of two former internationals, both now 36. There is captain Matias Almeyda, who played some of his best football in the holding role for Lazio and who has made an unexpected comeback after retiring from the game. Then there is playmaker Ariel Ortega, a victim of his own demons but still capable of flashes of extraordinary talent.

Almeyda began his career at River Plate. Photo: Reuters

The main beneficiary of Ortega's creative ability is 19-year-old centre forward Rogelio Funes Mori, touted by some at the club as a new Hernan Crespo.

The rangy Funes Mori has an interesting life story. A decade ago, the Argentine economy collapsed and Funes Mori's family re-located to the USA. While he was there, he won a reality TV show with the aim of unearthing a new football star. Part of the prize was to spend some time training with Chelsea. His spell at Stamford Bridge coincided with a visit from one of River Plate's youth sides, who ended up taking him back to Argentina.

Another River Plate youngster who must feel as if he has spent his life in a reality TV programme is Erik Lamela.

The 18-year-old was given his first senior start against Newells on Sunday but has been a household name for six years. When he was 12, there was a huge fuss about Barcelona wanting to take him to Spain. River managed to hang on to him and developed him through their youth ranks. His promise was apparent in the hour he played against Newells. A lanky, left-sided midfielder, he showed composure, played some lovely left-footed passes and produced one excellent moment of tight dribbling skills when he took three defenders out of the game.

Lamela is half the age of fellow midfielder Almeyda. Funes Mori is only just over half the age of strike partner Ortega. They represent the twin extremes of contemporary South American football - veterans winding down and youngsters on the way up. In the middle are those who were not successful in Europe or who were never considered good enough to receive the call.

It means that Argentine crowds have very few opportunities to see top players performing in their peak years. But, on the other hand, with everyone in a permanent state of transition, there is no danger of the championship race becoming predictable.

Comments on the piece in the space provided. Questions on South American football to vickerycolumn@hotmail.com, and I'll pick out a couple for next week.

From last week's postbag;

Q) I was wondering about your opinion on leggy Colombia striker Giovanni Moreno. I get such delight from the languid way he expresses his ability but simultaneously recognise that he might not have the mentality to succeed at the highest level. What do you think are his prospects at Racing in Argentina? Has he moved at the right time?
Martha Fischer

A) I'm a fan. He has lots of imagination and ability. I am also optimistic about his mental strength. He is from a tough mining background in Colombia.

Problems? As you say, he is languid. Will he cope with the extra pace of the European game if and when he moves? As for his position, right up off the main striker, where space is tight, or a bit deeper where he might lack the acceleration to get into the box?

I do think, though, that he has made a good move. Argentina can serve as a good finishing school for Colombians and he is working with a top coach in Miguel Angel Russo.

Q) What do you think of Arsenal's new signing due to arrive in January, Wellington Silva? Do you think he could make it to the top?
Peter Hornsby

A) Tiny, talented and a very tricky support striker who can beat the defender on either side. Any move across continents is a gamble, especially so at this age. Can he cope with all the changes he is going through? I have heard that there are already fears about things going to his head.

He has been eased in gently, spending some time with Arsenal and then going back to Fluminense in Brazil. Recently on his return to Rio, he awarded himself some holiday at a time when the club had an injury crisis with their strikers. Coach Muricy Ramalho was not impressed. To be honest, I think I would have preferred for him to stay in Brazil and build a career at home for a couple of years before making the move.

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